editorNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Jason BeaubienWed, 21 Feb 2018 21:49:30 +0000Jason Beaubienhttp://krwg.org
Jason BeaubienThere's no Xbox or PlayStation for most of the kids in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. But there are kites. In the late afternoon, a steady wind blows over the hills of the Hakimpara refugee camp. Young boys race to a ridge at the top of the settlement to fly homemade kites. Some of the "kites" are little more than a plastic bag flapping on a string. But some are more sophisticated with long tails and frilly tassels. "This is a new kite and I'm very happy with it," says 7-year-old Mohammed Arfat as he reels out string to a silvery kite 30 or 40 feet above him. Arfat adds that any day he's not able to fly a kite, he feels upset. I ask Arfat where he got his fancy new kite. He tells me that there's "this guy" who makes them and gives them away. The "guy" turns out to be a 10-year-old named Fayes Khamal. "It's easy to make kites but I need to find the materials," says Khamal. "And it takes a bit of time." Khamal uses bits of castoff bamboo and opaque plastic sheeting to fashionA 10-Year-Old Kid Is Making Magic With His Kiteshttp://krwg.org/post/refugee-boy-makes-magic-out-plastic-and-string
154101 as http://krwg.orgTue, 13 Feb 2018 22:37:00 +0000A 10-Year-Old Kid Is Making Magic With His KitesJason BeaubienCopyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: The mass migration of Rohingya Muslims out of Myanmar has been called ethnic cleansing by some, genocide by others. The Myanmar military calls it a cleanup operation against terrorists. All week we've been hearing NPR's Jason Beaubien's reports from the crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh where nearly a million Rohingya refugees are crammed in together. Today he's here to discuss what's next. Hi, Jason. JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE: Hello. SHAPIRO: As you've described this week, the Rohingya appear to be settling in in Bangladesh. So is this where they're going to stay? BEAUBIEN: That is the big question. And Bangladesh has been accepting of them, but it's also making it very clear that they don't want them. Inside these camps, the Bangladesh authorities have made it clear that the kids are not allowed to learn Bengali. So you'd be walking around, and you'll hear English. You'll hear them counting in English, or you'll hear themRohingya Refugee Camps Created In Bangladesh Aren't A Sustainable Situationhttp://krwg.org/post/rohingya-refugee-camps-created-bangladesh-arent-sustainable-situation
153840 as http://krwg.orgFri, 09 Feb 2018 21:26:00 +0000Rohingya Refugee Camps Created In Bangladesh Aren't A Sustainable SituationJason BeaubienHundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees have built makeshift shelters on steep, sandy hills in Bangladesh. They've fled what the U.N. has called ethnic cleansing in neighboring Myanmar. Now they face a new danger in the unplanned camps that sprawl over 3,000 acres: The monsoon season is expected to start in April. When the monsoon comes, bringing 20 to 30 inches of rain a month at their heaviest, aid officials worry that many of the hillsides where the Rohingya are living could collapse. There's also concern that hastily-constructed latrines could be flooded, contaminating the refugees' drinking water and sparking a major disease outbreak. In the Balukhali refugee camp, 32-year-old Dil Bahar scrambles up a steep footpath hauling a large aluminum vase of water. The sandy track rises sharply in front of her. Shelters made of bamboo and black plastic cling to the hillside. Even now in the dry season, the dusty soil slips out from beneath Bahar's feet. She says she has to climb thisMonsoon Rains Could Devastate Rohingya Campshttp://krwg.org/post/monsoon-rains-could-devastate-rohingya-camps
153667 as http://krwg.orgWed, 07 Feb 2018 21:22:00 +0000Monsoon Rains Could Devastate Rohingya CampsJason BeaubienDiphtheria poses one more threat to already beleaguered Rohingya refugees. The outbreak started in the sprawling camps in Bangladesh in November soon after hundreds of thousands of Rohingya arrived. It appeared to have peaked around New Year's but now there is renewed concern as the potentially fatal disease continues to spread. "Yesterday was a very busy day for us," Dr. Andy Doyle said earlier this week at the Samaritan's Purse diphtheria treatment center in the Balukhali refugee camp. "We saw 117 patients come in to be screened [for diphtheria]. That's the most we've seen in any given day." Doyle is the medical director of the tented field hospital. The waiting area, which is just some benches under a tarp roof, is jammed with people waiting to be checked for diphtheria. Doyle says it looks as if they could have a record number of patients for a second day in a row. Doyle and his team only treat diphtheria at this facility. So the very first thing the staff members do is screen theRare Disease Finds Fertile Ground In Rohingya Refugee Campshttp://krwg.org/post/rare-disease-finds-fertile-ground-rohingya-refugee-camps
152900 as http://krwg.orgSat, 27 Jan 2018 13:21:00 +0000Rare Disease Finds Fertile Ground In Rohingya Refugee CampsJason BeaubienCopyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit KELLY MCEVERS, HOST: Bangladesh says it is postponing the start of a program to send hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar. The controversial repatriation plan was supposed to start tomorrow. And while it's supposed to be voluntary, human rights groups and many refugees worry that people could be forced to go back to Myanmar. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports from what's now become the largest refugee camp in the world, where Rohingya refugees say they're relieved. JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE: Sitting on a straw mat in his shelter near Bangladesh's border with Myanmar, refugee Sonah Meah says he was tortured and left for dead by the Myanmar military in August of last year. SONAH MEAH: (Speaking Rohingya). BEAUBIEN: He says soldiers accused him of being part of an armed insurgent group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, which he denies. They knocked several of his teeth out, he says, and repeatedly beat him unconscious. NPR can'tBangladesh Postpones Controversial Plan To Send Rohingya Refugees Back Homehttp://krwg.org/post/bangladesh-postpones-controversial-plan-send-rohingya-refugees-back-home
152522 as http://krwg.orgMon, 22 Jan 2018 21:54:00 +0000Bangladesh Postpones Controversial Plan To Send Rohingya Refugees Back HomeJason BeaubienColombia is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. Now that a peace deal has been reached in that South American country, the slow process of getting rid of landmines is underway. Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Now we're going to go to Colombia to spend time with a team of people working to get rid of landmines across the country. The landmines are a legacy of one of the longest guerrilla conflicts in modern history. The war between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia known as the FARC began in the 1960s. Just over a year ago, the Marxist rebels agreed to a peace accord. They've been slowly turning in their weapons. NPR's Jason Beaubien went out with deminers in the Cauca region of western Colombia. UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Speaking Spanish). JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE: The members of a demining team from Handicap International are huddled next to a cement wall as they get ready to remotely detonate an explosive they just found.De-Mining In Colombia: The Slow Process Of Clearing Away Land Mines http://krwg.org/post/de-mining-colombia-slow-process-clearing-away-land-mines
151206 as http://krwg.orgTue, 02 Jan 2018 17:04:00 +0000De-Mining In Colombia: The Slow Process Of Clearing Away Land Mines Jason BeaubienFor a long time, the residents of Acre State in Brazil were lucky. They lived in the right climate for the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries dengue fever. But that mosquito was nowhere to be found, and there were no recorded cases of dengue in the state. That wasn't so in other parts of Brazil. There are reports of people suffering from dengue dating back to the mid-1800s in Rio de Janeiro. Since the 1980s, Brazil has dealt with dengue outbreaks ranging from a few thousand cases a year to hundreds of thousands. But in Acre ... the total was always zero. Then in the year 2000, Acre recorded its first case of dengue. Ten years later, there were 35,000 cases among a population of under 1 million. And that's definitely a health problem. The effects on a person who gets infected with dengue vary dramatically. Some people have no symptoms at all. Others get a mild to intense flu. The most severe cases can be fatal. A new study in the journal Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases tries toWhy A Brazilian State Went From 0 Cases Of Dengue To 35,000 A Yearhttp://krwg.org/post/why-brazilian-state-went-0-cases-dengue-35000-year
149192 as http://krwg.orgTue, 28 Nov 2017 21:43:00 +0000Why A Brazilian State Went From 0 Cases Of Dengue To 35,000 A YearJason BeaubienPuerto Rico is in the midst of the worst electricity outage in U.S. history. Most of the island remains without power more than two months after Hurricane Maria hit the island. Some Puerto Ricans are saying that the current crisis should be a wake-up call that the island needs to move to a less centralized power system — and that solar power might be part of the solution. In other words, they believe Puerto Rico should follow the lead of many developing nations where solar power production is expanding rapidly. Despite being part of the United States, Puerto Rico has electrical woes similar to those facing deeply impoverished nations in Africa and Southeast Asia. Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico on September 20 as a Category 4 hurricane, caused the entire electric grid to collapse. But things weren't exactly in good shape pre-Maria. The transmission lines and power plants of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, also known as PREPA, were crumbling due to a lack of maintenanceIf The Developing World Can Go Solar, Maybe Puerto Rico Can Toohttp://krwg.org/post/if-developing-world-can-go-solar-maybe-puerto-rico-can-too
148891 as http://krwg.orgWed, 22 Nov 2017 17:58:00 +0000If The Developing World Can Go Solar, Maybe Puerto Rico Can TooJason BeaubienKevin Canas Quitumbo was 13 years old when shrapnel from a land mine ripped through his left leg, up his torso and all the way to the back of his skull. That was five years ago. His doctors are still working to repair the damage. "In January and February I have to go back to the hospital," he says. "The doctors are going to put additional metal rods into my foot." Canas stepped on the mine during a protest for indigenous rights in the southwestern region of Cauca in Colombia. He was with a group of friends, and they wanted to get to the front of the march. So they ran off the main road to cut ahead. "After the accident I was in the hospital for four months," he says. Mines are strewn all over Colombia — a legacy of more than 50 years of fighting between the heavily armed, well-financed FARC rebels (also known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the government. Both sides used mines, although the military says it has cleared the explosives it planted defensively aroundBombs In Baby Food Jars Are Just One Part Of Colombia's Land Mine Problemhttp://krwg.org/post/digging-land-mines-if-you-say-youre-not-afraid-youre-lying
148219 as http://krwg.orgSun, 12 Nov 2017 13:57:00 +0000Bombs In Baby Food Jars Are Just One Part Of Colombia's Land Mine ProblemJason BeaubienForty days after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, most of the U.S. territory remains without power. Over the weekend, the island's power company fired a key contractor working to restore electrical service. The cancellation of the $300 million contract with Whitefish Energy, after the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies expressed significant concerns about the deal, is expected to further delay the return of power throughout Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican government has prioritized getting power back to hospitals. Many smaller clinics and doctor's offices, like other businesses on the island, still don't have electricity. Take, for instance, San Patricio Medflix , a diagnostic imaging center in greater San Juan. The center has state-of-the-art MRI, CT and nuclear medicine equipment. Dr. Fernando Zalduondo Dubner, medical director imaging center, says his biggest job is battling with a heavy-duty diesel generator to keep the power on. "We are having trouble with itLingering Power Outage In Puerto Rico Strains Health Care Systemhttp://krwg.org/post/lingering-power-outage-puerto-rico-strains-health-care-system
147432 as http://krwg.orgMon, 30 Oct 2017 20:58:00 +0000Lingering Power Outage In Puerto Rico Strains Health Care SystemJason BeaubienCopyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: We're going to start the program in Puerto Rico, where 70 percent of residents are still without electricity after Hurricane Maria destroyed the power grid more than a month ago. There are downed power lines and utility poles everywhere, which would be a tall order for repair under any circumstances. But today, the head of the Puerto Rican Power Authority announced that it is canceling the territory's contract with Whitefish Energy. That's the two-person electrical repair company out of Montana that had been signed to take on the huge project of restoring power to Puerto Rico. Now, this came after Governor Ricardo Rossello called for the cancellation in a press conference this morning. (SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE) RICARDO ROSSELLO: In the interest of protecting our public interest, I have asked the board of the power authority to invoke the cancellation clause in the contract immediately. MARTIN: For more on this, we arePuerto Rico Power Authority Calls To Cancel Dubious $300M Grid Contracthttp://krwg.org/post/puerto-rico-power-authority-calls-cancel-dubious-300m-grid-contract
147354 as http://krwg.orgSun, 29 Oct 2017 22:43:00 +0000Puerto Rico Power Authority Calls To Cancel Dubious $300M Grid ContractJason BeaubienCopyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: When you go to book a flight, you probably get online or perhaps you pick up the phone. What if you couldn't do either of those things? Those are among the problems for many Puerto Ricans still trying to get a flight to the mainland. There are many other challenges, too. And this is five weeks after Hurricane Maria hit. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports from San Juan. JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE: At the departure area of terminal B at San Juan's airport, Alexander Miranda is getting ready to send much of his family off to Chicago. He says there's just no way for them to get by right now in Puerto Rico. ALEXANDER MIRANDA: I mean, there's no work. There's no work. The hurricane left many of the people without houses, without food, without water, no electricity. Right now, in my home, I just got water, no electricity for like a month right now. BEAUBIEN: So Miranda's stepmom, his two younger brothers and their grandmother are all going toPuerto Ricans Face Challenges Trying To Leave The Islandhttp://krwg.org/post/puerto-ricans-face-challenges-trying-leave-island
147095 as http://krwg.orgWed, 25 Oct 2017 20:37:00 +0000Puerto Ricans Face Challenges Trying To Leave The IslandJason Beaubienhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLFfr2M-kR0 The world is incredibly close to wiping out polio. This year the number of polio cases has shrunk to fewer than a dozen. And those cases are in just two countries — Afghanistan and Pakistan. "We are definitely encouraged by the decline in number of cases," says Dr. Rana Safdar, the national coordinator for polio eradication in Pakistan. His country has seen the number of reported polio cases drop from more than 300 in 2014 to just 5 so far in 2017. "We hope to completely eliminate transmission during the current low transmission season, which starts from September and ends in May," he says. "We are very confident we can do this. But the last mile is always very difficult." Pakistan has been holding national polio immunization days in which a quarter of a million vaccinators attempt to make sure 38 million children get all three doses of the oral polio vaccine. "We must reach these children from the coast of Karachi to the mountains in theWebcast: Can The World Finally Wipe Out Polio?http://krwg.org/post/webcast-can-world-finally-wipe-out-polio
146806 as http://krwg.orgFri, 20 Oct 2017 10:00:00 +0000Webcast: Can The World Finally Wipe Out Polio?Jason BeaubienBacquerette woke up early. She made breakfast for her 2-year-old daughter, left the child with her neighbor and started the long walk to the village of Ambohitsara. Bacquerette wanted to make sure she was one of the first people in line for a one-day-only family planning clinic. She walked almost two hours on footpaths that snake along the sandy bank of the Canal des Pangalanes in eastern Madagascar. And she managed to arrive at the event just after it started. The 33-year-old single mother had come to get an IUD. "Life is hard," Bacquerette says, explaining why she wants an IUD. "It's very hard to have very many children." Bacquerette, who like many people in this part of Madagascar goes by just one name, would like to have more children ... but not right now. Trump's Cutback This clinic might be her last chance to get an IUD or any other long-lasting contraceptive for the foreseeable future, mainly because of the changing political landscape 9,000 miles away in Washington, D.C. OneU.S. Slashes Funds For Family Planning In Madagascarhttp://krwg.org/post/us-slashes-funds-family-planning-madagascar
146436 as http://krwg.orgSat, 14 Oct 2017 11:00:00 +0000U.S. Slashes Funds For Family Planning In MadagascarJason BeaubienCopyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: It's been 11 days since Hurricane Irma swept over the island of St. Thomas as a monster Category 5 storm. And that island in the Caribbean is still reeling. NPR's Jason Beaubien is at the Crown Bay Marina in St. Thomas. That's the main operations center for getting people off the island and on their way to Puerto Rico. Jason, thanks so much for joining us. JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE: It's great to talk with you. MARTIN: So describe the scene for us there at the Marina. BEAUBIEN: This is an improvised boatlift that's happening here. You've just got people showing up with their luggage. You've got people showing up with their kids, their pets. The curfew lifts at 10 a.m. But even before that, there was a - dozens of people waiting here. Boats come in. And they try to get on. Behind me, there's just all of these ripped up sheet metal buildings. This boatlift is sort of the main way that people are getting off at the moment. And someSt. Thomas Continues To Deal With Destruction Caused By Hurricane Irmahttp://krwg.org/post/st-thomas-continues-deal-destruction-caused-hurricane-irma
144869 as http://krwg.orgSat, 16 Sep 2017 22:08:00 +0000St. Thomas Continues To Deal With Destruction Caused By Hurricane IrmaJason BeaubienCopyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: One of the places in the Caribbean that was hardest hit by Hurricane Irma is St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Irma ripped across St. Thomas as a Category 5 hurricane nine days ago, and the island is now just starting to dig out. The airport remains closed, but relief flights and U.S. Marines are finally getting in. NPR's Jason Beaubien is in St. Thomas, and he reports the island is devastated. JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE: Prior to Irma, St. Thomas was a lush, green Caribbean paradise, drawing hundreds of thousands of tourists a year to its beaches and resort hotels. Now the island's hills are a dull brown, stripped of vegetation by Irma's powerful winds. At the airport, small planes lie crumpled next to the private jet departure terminal. Shipping containers are tossed on their sides. The governor estimates that 90 percent of buildings were damaged or destroyed. Utility crews and U.S. Marines have been moving through theSt. Thomas Residents Welcome Relief Flights After Irmahttp://krwg.org/post/st-thomas-residents-welcome-relief-flights-after-irma
144766 as http://krwg.orgFri, 15 Sep 2017 11:37:00 +0000St. Thomas Residents Welcome Relief Flights After IrmaJason BeaubienCopyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit KELLY MCEVERS, HOST: Officials in Port Arthur, Texas, are scrambling to find places to shelter the thousands of people who are displaced by this week's floods. Port Arthur was hit hard by Tropical Storm Harvey a few days after the hurricane hit Houston. The shelters set up in Port Arthur quickly filled to capacity. Now the Federal Emergency Management Agency has started airlifting evacuees in military cargo planes. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports. JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE: Port Arthur's shelters have struggled during this disaster. The first debacle was when a shelter at the Robert Bowers Civic Center housing more than a hundred people flooded on Tuesday night. Other municipal shelters filled to capacity soon after opening. And then there's the bowling alley which firefighters commandeered in the middle of the night Tuesday and turned into a surreal refuge for residents and their animals. There were even reports of a pet monkey taking refuge there.With Shelters Full, Port Arthur, Texas Scrambles To Find Housing For Displaced Peoplehttp://krwg.org/post/shelters-full-port-arthur-texas-scrambles-find-housing-displaced-people
143984 as http://krwg.orgFri, 01 Sep 2017 20:32:00 +0000With Shelters Full, Port Arthur, Texas Scrambles To Find Housing For Displaced PeopleJason BeaubienWhen we wrote about Dr. Forster Amponsah in 2016, he was eager to perform surgery but faced many obstacles. "The general electricity is out and our generator is broken down," he told NPR. Has a year made a difference? "The electricity is better, much better," says Dr. Forster Amponsah at the Koforidua Regional Hospital in Ghana. The surgeon's excitement rushes through the scratchy cellphone connection from Accra. "Now we have a generator that is working. So whenever the electricity goes out now we have our generator." When I profiled him last year , one of his biggest problems was that the power kept going out in his operating theater, making it nearly impossible to deal with a backlog of patients. "I'm still in the same hospital. I'm still in the same theater where I was with you," Amponsah says. During my visit, there were patients lined up on gurneys in the hallway waiting for surgery. Africa and many other parts of the developing world face a deadly shortfall in surgeons. GlobalWhatever Happened To ... The Surgeon Who Couldn't Count On Electricity?http://krwg.org/post/whatever-happened-surgeon-who-couldnt-count-electricity
143863 as http://krwg.orgThu, 31 Aug 2017 15:38:00 +0000Whatever Happened To ... The Surgeon Who Couldn't Count On Electricity?Jason BeaubienA few years ago in Zambia, hippos were dropping dead by the dozens. Soon after the hippos fell ill, people started getting sick, too. Between August and September of 2011, at least 85 hippos died in a game management area along the South Luangwa River near the border with Malawi. It turns out the hippos were the victims of anthrax, the same bacteria used in a series of letter attacks that killed five people in the weeks after Sept. 11. The anthrax outbreaks in hippos and humans in Zambia however, weren't part of some sinister terrorist plot. Instead, they were driven by hunger. "Anthrax infection in wildlife is actually fairly common," says epidemiologist Melissa Marx , an assistant professor of international health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who investigated the 2011 anthrax incidents in Zambia. "There have been recently documented [animal] outbreaks all over the world including Italy, Russia, Spain, Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe." Marx was working for theHippos, Anthrax And Hunger Make A Deadly Mixhttp://krwg.org/post/hippos-anthrax-and-hunger-make-deadly-mix
142979 as http://krwg.orgWed, 16 Aug 2017 16:20:00 +0000Hippos, Anthrax And Hunger Make A Deadly MixJason BeaubienAll his life, 56-year-old Jeanpier Marolahy has been growing rice in eastern Madagascar, on the steep hills that slope down from the central highlands toward the Indian Ocean. The thin, weather-beaten Marolahy knows that rice production is all about water and timing. The grain needs a lot of water at first, but if torrential rains fall at harvest time, they can destroy the crop. Rice is a hugely important part of life on the island nation off the southeastern coast of Africa. At times, it shows up for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In much of the country, it dominates the landscape, planted in small plots across millions of acres of land. But erratic rains and powerful storms are threatening rice production in parts Madagascar and putting the livelihoods of subsistence farmers like Marolahy at risk. For years, Marolahy says, the wet and dry seasons arrived in his fields in a relatively predictable pattern. But that is no longer the case. The weather has clearly changed, Marolahy says,Erratic Weather Threatens Livelihood Of Rice Farmers In Madagascarhttp://krwg.org/post/erratic-weather-threatens-livelihood-rice-farmers-madagascar
142397 as http://krwg.orgSun, 06 Aug 2017 11:59:00 +0000Erratic Weather Threatens Livelihood Of Rice Farmers In Madagascar